Kickstarter: The Retro Deck – Playing Cards by Pocono Modern

07Oct

New playing cards come from successful creators of Woodland Deck on Kickstarter. Decks were designed by Joe Morelli and Pocono Modern. Two editions of one general theme are planned. They inspired by the simplicity and elegance of timeless Mid-Century Modern design.

Mid-Century Modern is an architectural, interior, product and graphic design that generally describes mid-20th century developments in modern American design, architecture and urban development from roughly 1933 to 1965. The term started to be used as the name of the style in mid-1950s. This style is now recognized by scholars and museums worldwide as a significant design movement.

About their relaunch of the project (02/08/2015):

“Initially we failed to raise enough money to produce The Retro Deck as we dreamed it: a multi-deck set of complimentary playing cards… Rather than letting that stop us, we were able to scrape together enough money to produce one of the two decks we campaigned for… To date we have sold enough of them to cover our debt but not enough to produce the second deck. If we can raise enough to produce this second deck in white we will be able to realize the full set as originally intended… And to keep it fun we’ve added a few extra perks to the deck, such as foil box seals and custom drink cards.” ~ Pocono Modern Playing Cards

White deck is also planned to be printed by the United States Playing Card Company (USPCC). Poker size.

Mid-Century Modern probably drew its most significant influence from the 1945 Case Study House program in Southern California, sponsored by Arts and Architecture magazine. Its goal was to provide inexpensive home designs executed using modern approaches. Funny, but the original designs that found their reflection in real buildings ended up becoming prized individual examples on valuable land.

The city of Palm Springs (California) is noted for being a filming location for many films its many examples of Mid-Century Modern architecture.

Cara Greenberg (a veteran writer on architecture, design, and gardens for magazines and newspapers) wrote one of the most popular books dedicated to this style, Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s. In 1983, she revived the popularity of Mid-Century Modern as a style descriptor. The term came into common use due to a lively interest in the style.

The Retro Deck – Playing Cards: Jokers

Only one white deck is launched on Kickstarter tis time (relaunch). Its playing cards have a white background. Backs will be the same as Coloured Edition has. You can still compose a set.

Pocono Modern decided to help playing card collectors and proposes the two-deck collector’s box constructed of high density chipboard with a book linen finish. Certificate of Authenticity will be signed by the artist and lead designer, Joe Morelli, and Kraig Kalashian.

This set is their second playing card project and with enough support Pocono Modern hopes to continue building its catalog of American-made products.

“The idea for this deck has been on our minds for a while now and has gone through many revisions. What you see above represents many long months of research, design, and development. We looked long and hard for other mid-century inspirations and to our knowledge this is the only deck of its kind. Please note, the Pocono Modern watermark is NOT part of the final design.” ~ Pocono Modern

[FUNDED – March 10th, 2015]

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Joe Morelli meticulously illustrated all faces of the playing cards as well as their pips in a mid-century design language but tried to preserve historical context and significance of each suit. So, don’t worry. The King of Diamonds, as well as the Jack of Spades and the Jack of Hearts, won’t lose their single-eyed charm. And the long-suffering King of Hearts won’t live too long 😉

On the other hand, the Queen of Spades decided to be original and is single-eyed (in comparison with USPCC’s Bicycle standard faces of court cards).